Friday, September 30, 2011

I'm playing French Fridays with Dorie catch up, combining this week's Deconstructed BLT and Eggs, and a recipe I missed back in early August, Simple Slow Roasted Tomatoes.

Our solo tomato plant yielded about 20 ripe Romas this week, so I took the opportunity to slowly roast them with a drizzle of olive oil, garlic cloves, fresh thyme sprigs, and salt and freshly ground pepper. I used most of them last night in Capellini Pomodoro, and the rest in this Deconstructed BLT and Eggs salad.

When chefs in France got caught up in the 'deconstructed' craze, Dorie decided to deconstruct a BLT sandwich, and then take it a step further by 'saladizing' it. At the last minute, she added a couple hard-boiled eggs and dab of mayonnaise, to make it a more substantial lunch.

Dorie uses a combination of chopped, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes and halved, cherry or grape tomatoes. I used the rest of my Simple Slow Roasted Tomatoes, the last two ripe Romas from the garden, and an heirloom yellow tomato.

In addition to the tomatoes, Dorie tosses arugula in a simple vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and adds coarsely chopped bacon, cubes of country-style bread sauteed in the rendered bacon fat until golden, halved hard-boiled eggs, and a dab of mayonnaise. I used uncured pepper bacon, cubed ciabatta rolls to make the croutons, and soft-boiled eggs. I omitted the mayo.

This is another exceptional salad to add to the collection!

***

French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s book Around My French Table. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Roma tomatoes, rosemary, red chilies, and Swiss chard...a few of the fresh ingredients needed for this Tuscan chickpea soup, all happen to grow in pots in our courtyard. With a few more vegetables, and a pound of dried chickpeas, soaked the night before, I was able to have a pot of soup simmering on the stove and ready to enjoy within a few hours. It's that fresh, simple, and rustic style of Italian cooking that draws me in on lazy Sunday afternoons. We're looking forward to enjoying the leftovers this week, or freezing them for a future, chilly evening in front of the fireplace.

Drain the soaked chickpeas and set aside. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the chopped onions, carrots, and celery for five minutes. Add the chickpeas and 14 cups of water. Increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Lower heat, and simmer, uncovered for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Skim the surface and remove any scum during cooking. Season with salt and pepper during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

In a blender, carefully purée two-thirds of the chickpeas, with some of the cooking liquid. Return the pureed soup to the pot (with the remaining one-third whole chickpeas and their liquid).

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic, rosemary sprigs, and chilies. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, and then add the Swiss chard or spinach. Sauté a few more minutes, and then add the pureed tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and chilies, and discard. Add the tomato sauce to the chickpea soup and simmer for another few minutes to blend the flavors.

Drizzle bread with olive oil and toast under the broiler on both sides.

Ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with olive oil, and season with freshly ground black pepper. Serve with toasted bread.

***

Sunday soup, bread and wine. You can't go wrong. Maybe I'll try to convince our summer Concert in the Park culinary group to participate in a "Sunday Soup" rotation during the fall and winter months...

Saturday, September 24, 2011

When John's son came to visit us this summer, he asked me to make him one of his favorite dinners, Fettuccine Alfredo. Alex follows the blog, and gave me the option of putting a twist on the dish. It didn't take long to find Guy Fieri's Cajun Chicken Alfredo, with blackened chicken, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, a hint of white wine, and sliced scallions...just the right ingredients to take a standard Alfredo recipe over the top.

I took a quick photo before we ate that evening, and it's been sitting on my desktop waiting patiently to be inserted into a blog post. As fall sneaks in with cool air and grey skies, a bowl of comforting pasta is sounding pretty darn good.

Liberally rub the blackening spice over both sides of the chicken breasts, place on a plate, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a cast iron skillet over very high heat. Blacken both sides of the chicken and place in the oven for 10 minutes, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Slice in strips on the bias and set aside.

In a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil. Add garlic and saute until lightly caramelized. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, and the chicken slices. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the heavy cream, increase the heat to a simmer, and reduce the cream sauce by half.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the pasta until al dente.

When the cream sauce is to desired consistency, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan, salt, pepper, and pasta.

Nest the pasta on large rimmed plates, pour sauce over pasta, and garnish with scallions and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

For the third year in a row, we've topped off our Coronado Concerts in the Park Culinary-themed picnics with a Southern Jubilee Seafood Boil. Our annual tradition started back in 2009, when Carmen enlightened us about Jubilee, a natural phenomenon that occurs from time to time, during the warm summer months, on the shores of Mobile Bay, Alabama. During Jubilee, blue crabs, shrimp and fish swim swarm toward the shore in a desperate search for more oxygen-rich water. People rush down to the water with washtubs, gigs, and nets, to gather a bountiful harvest of seafood. Jubilees cannot be predicted with certainty, and remain a mysterious and welcome gift from nature.

During his Navy days, John used to treat the BUDS instructors to seafood boils on the "deep dive" days. He kept his big boiling pot and burner, hotel pans, and expertise, and has thus acquired the chef position for our Jubilees. Chef John also provided Mason jars for our adult beverages.

Back by popular demand - Nina's compound butters and fresh baguettes. It was so hard to choose a favorite between Lemon-Dill, Fig-Blue Cheese, Roasted Garlic-Asiago, and Sweet Corn-Avocado-Lime. She even made her own butter!

In addition to the shellfish and andouille sausage, we like throwing in artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, corn, purple potatoes, cippolini onions, baby carrots, okra, and whole heads of garlic. I made a double batch of John Besh's Remoulade for our dipping sauce. We won't talk about the disastrous dessert I attempted - it's still too painful. Thankfully, Sandra saved us with her Cherries Jubilee.

Perfectly tender, seasoned artichokes

Head-on Shrimp

Mussels, Clams, and Crawfish hiding underneath

All that goodness lurking within

Last batch coming out of the strainer

John and Kai about to pour our feast onto the table

Beautiful, vivid colors

﻿

Carmen's Cornbread

Jubilee, a celebration of food and friends

This is, by far, the ultimate picnic in the park or party for your backyard. You can find our ingredients and instructions for Jubilee in last year's post, here, along with recipes/links for desserts and sides, and a few more recipes/links, here. Also, search key words "John Besh" or "southern" in the blog search feature on the sidebar, and you'll likely find additional recipes!

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the peanut oil. Mix until well combined.

Grease a medium-sized iron skillet with the peanut oil and heat on HIGH until the oil is hot but not smoking.

Pour the batter into the skillet. Remove from the stove, place the skillet in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. To test if it's done, stab it in the center with a wooden skewer - if it comes out clean, it's done. Remove the skillet from the oven and allow it to cool for about twenty minutes. To serve, put the whole skillet on the table or cut the bread into wedges or squares and place on a serving platter. If you're an authentic hillbilly, put a chunk of it in a glass, pour buttermilk over it, and eat it with a spoon.

Friday, September 16, 2011

For such a simple recipe with only three ingredients (chicken, Speculoos cookies, and crème fraiche), that was supposed to knock my socks off, I would have been happier eating the box of cookies for dinner. However, in respect for Dorie, I blame my disappointment on several factors:

I stopped by Albertsons first, thinking they would have Speculoos - thin, buttery cinnamon and spice cookies, aka LU Cinnamon Sugar Spice Biscuits or LU Bastogne. Nothing even close. I read you could substitute Gingersnaps, but that slot on the shelf was empty. Strike one.

I then went down the aisle to the back of the store, to the dairy section, in search of crème fraiche. Strike two. If you must, Dorie advises, you can substitute heavy cream, but not sour cream. Sour cream will curdle and break over heat (keep reading). I didn't want to make substitutions for two out of the three ingredients, so I decided to try another store.

I knew I had seen crème fraiche at Boney's, but doubted they carried Speculoos. I abandoned Albertsons, got back in the car, and drove two blocks to Boney's. Correct in my assumptions, I was successful in finding crème fraiche, but no Speculoos. Making the decision to settle on Gingersnaps, I then debated over two brands for at least 10 minutes. Neither one contained cinnamon, but I figured I could add a teaspoon or so to the recipe. I wandered over to the meat section, grabbed the boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and then to the bakery section, where I found a more appealing package of Gingersnaps. I tossed the organic Gingersnaps back on the shelf, grabbed a few things for a salad, and made my way to the checkout, 30 minutes later.

Once I got home, John had the stove and refrigerator pulled out from the wall and was painting in all the areas I needed to be preparing and cooking (you don't even want to know what colors we are trying to cover up in our new house). And, of course, Dooley was also sprawled out in the middle of the kitchen floor, taking his eighth power nap of the day.

I proceeded to read through the recipe, which calls for slicing the chicken breasts crosswise into one-inch strips before sautéing them in butter or oil. I felt keeping the chicken breasts whole would make for a prettier photo, so I ignored that step (when you're a food blogger, you must consider how you are going to plate the finished dish for the camera - I also note that a photo of this dish was no where to be found on the net). Once the chicken is cooked, you add a cup of crème fraiche and folded-in, crunched up Speculoos to the pan.Apparently, the cookies melt into the sauce, like they do in your mouth, and flavor it with cinnamon and spice.

In my case, I transferred the chicken breasts to a plate, and added the crème fraiche with folded-in Gingersnaps, and teaspoon of ground cinnamon, to the pan. The crème fraiche, which was not supposed to break, broke. Strike three.

I was able to make a recovery, of sorts, with some sour cream (I was out of crème fraiche at that point and had no heavy cream) and chicken broth. My pan was probably too hot when I originally added the crème fraiche, but I blame that on the electric stove we also inherited with this house and its turquoise and yellow kitchen (those colors are now on their way out, and I'll be talking to Santa in a few months about a gas stove).

Anyhoo, in an effort to end this very long and sad story, I did not feel this Cinnamon-Crunch Chicken was a "stroke of brilliance" - as Dorie describes her friend's creation. John said it liked it, and compared it to a Thai peanut sauce, but it was a bit sweet for my liking. I did enjoy the salad of baby greens, apples, red onion, cashews and sherry vinaigrette...and I truly enjoyed the leftoverGingersnaps with my coffee the next few mornings. Sometimes, things are not as simple as they may seem.

On a much sweeter note, as we roll into fall, I encourage you to try Bobby Flay's Throwdown Pumpkin Pie, with Cinnamon-Crunch topping, a much better use than on chicken.

French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s book Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

For our Coronado Concert in the Park Finale of the summer season, our theme was Chopped, but a slightly less challenging version than the Food Network cooking television series hosted by Ted Allen.

If you're familiar with Chopped, you know that four chefs compete in each episode, in three rounds: Appetizer, Entrée and Dessert. In each round, the chefs are given a basket containing between three and five ingredients, and the dish each competitor prepares must contain each of those ingredients. Generally speaking, the ingredients are ones that are not commonly prepared together. The competitors are also given access to a pantry and refrigerator stocked with a wide variety of other ingredients. Each round has a time limit: twenty minutes for the Appetizer round, and thirty minutes for the Entrée and Dessert. The chefs must cook their dishes and complete four platings (one for each judge plus one "beauty plate") before time runs out. After each round, the judges critique the dishes based on presentation, taste, and creativity. The judges then decide which chef is "chopped," who is then eliminated from the competition. Thus, by the dessert round, only two chefs remain. When deciding the winner, the judges consider not only the dessert course, but also the entire meal presented by each chef as a whole.

I found a list of all the baskets of ingredients from prior Chopped seasons and episodes, and asked our participating 'chefs' to choose two numbers (they didn't know that the first number corresponded to the season and the second number corresponded to the episode during that season). They were permitted to choose any ONE of the three baskets in their chosen episode - the Appetizer, Entrée OR Dessert basket, and had to prepare a dish for that course with the corresponding basket ingredients. If they were unable to locate an exact ingredient, close substitutions were allowed. I had John choose my numbers before I told him what was going on, so I could play along.

I have new respect for the chefs who compete on Chopped. Thankfully, we didn't have the time constraints, because it took me hours to come up with an idea, and hours to prepare the final dish! My appetizer was Chorizo Ravioli, topped with Mussels in Red Curry. I added sauteed yellow bell peppers and white beech mushrooms (no bluefoots at Whole Foods) to the curry sauce, and garnished the dish with a mix of diced dried papaya, cashews and coconut flakes.

I bought fresh lasagna sheets, thinned them out a bit in my pasta roller, and cut the ravioli with a large round cookie cutter. I borrowed a recipe from the Culinary Institute of America for Chorizo Ravioli and adapted a recipe from Williams Sonoma for Red Curry Sauce.

I sauteed the mushrooms and bell pepper, and cooked the ravioli at home. Once at the park, I then reheated the red curry sauce in my cataplana, and added the ravioli for a few minutes to reheat them. One ravioli went on each plate, and then I added the mushrooms, bell peppers and mussels to the curry sauce, closed the cataplana, and steamed the mussels.

I topped each ravioli with 3 steamed mussels, curry sauce, and a sprinkle of diced papaya, cashews and coconut flakes. Surprisingly, this turned out quite well.

Alec told me he used a chicory blend that came in a tea bag as a dry rub for the flank steak, and then refrigerated it for 3-4 hours before grilling. Pepino melon is out of season, so he made a salsa with pears and pink melon, pickled onions, a Tuaca-Sherry reduction, and a ground-up granola bar.

Kai's episode, A is for Apple. U is for Udon, aired on August 16, 2011. He chose the Entrée basket, with sweet vermouth, leeks, French fingerling potatoes, and diver scallops. He declined the Appetizer basket with udon noodles, watermelon radish, razor clams, and pickled eggplant, and the Dessert Basket with Thai basil, marinated cippolini onions, Black Oxford apples, and rolled oats. Kai's final dish: Sautéed Scallopsin a sweet vermouth sauce (roux, sweet vermouth, chicken stock, sour cream), served over puréed leeks and mashed potatoes, and garnished with crispy leeks and bacon.

Jack and Sandra drew numbers corresponding to Buckwheat Blunders and Twists of Fate, which aired on August 25, 2009. Sandra also made an entrée with her entrée basket ingredients of knackwurst, pretzels, ramps, and mangosteen. Her appetizer basket contained olive oil packed tuna, English cucumbers, and buckwheat flour, and her dessert basket had biscuit dough, pistachios, dried hibiscus flowers, and black olives.

Carmen's episode, A Prickly Situation, aired July 21, 2009. She chose the Dessert Basket with bulgur wheat, pomegranate juice, pineapple, and green papaya. She could have made an appetizer with brioche, fennel, and sea urchin, or an entrée, with blackstrap molasses, red snapper, parsley root, and dried cranberries. Carmen shared her original recipe for Fruited Bulgur Puddingshere.

Last Minute Chef was probably the only one who actually completed his dessert in the 30 minutes provided to the chefs on Chopped. Brad's episode, Dream'n of Redeem'n, aired July 20, 2010. He chose the Dessert basket, with vodka, crescent roll dough, sesame seeds, and blueberry jelly beans. He opted out of attempting an appetizer with rump roast, rainbow chard, and vegetable yeast spread, or an entrée with branzino (Mediterranean seabass), piquillo peppers, jicama, and chocolate sandwich cookies. Unfortunately, Brad's Cinnamon-Blueberry Jelly Bean Buns with Vanilla Vodka Glaze were tasty, but fell a tad short in the creativity department when he failed to incorporate any additional pantry or refrigerator ingredients in his dessert. He partially redeemed himself by purchasing cinnamon crescent roll dough and vanilla vodka, but he then failed to use all of his basket ingredients by omitting the sesame seeds.

Sorry, Bradley, but Judge Olivia ultimately decided you had to be chopped.

Remembering 9/11

If you've been following along this summer, I hope you've enjoyed our Concert in the Park culinary challenges (you can see all the themes we've done for the past four summers, here). It's now time to finish planning and shopping for our annual Southern Jubilee Seafood Boil on Sunday, and then our annual Halloween Party. In between, I hope to squeeze in some recipes from my cookbook and cooking magazine collection, share more of our restaurant and food photography shoots, and get to a special post about another beautiful product for homemade pasta.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Rat Pack was able to rally again after a memorable Saturday night at Baby Bellagio. We carried over the Italian theme for Concert in the Park with Roman cuisine. Many of us were still sporting our fedoras, and some added facial hair in honor of the birthday boy's latest look.

Alec and Sonoma

Kai, looking a bit more stylish and masculine(see Aunt Kai with his tray of Cannoli, here)

Nina slipped into a mini-toga and exchanged her fedora for a gold leaf headpiece

Here's how Nina prepared the pasta: "The pasta was a puttanesca, I did it from memory: Extra virgin olive oil, several cloves of garlic minced and cooked for a couple minutes over low heat, take off heat, throw in some chopped kalamata olives and fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon (my touch, love the acid and liveliness it adds) and throw the hot pasta over the whole thing, toss with some grated parmesan and serve. I think it's normally served without cooking the garlic first, but the saute takes the edge off the garlic so it's kind of nice like that."

In researching Roman cuisine, I came across Saltimbocca alla Romana, which consists of veal, prosciutto or ham, and sage, rolled-up and cooked in Marsala and butter. I adapted Tyler Florence's version, here, using chicken, prosciutto, sage, white wine, chicken broth and lemon. I was also able to prepare it at the park on our little portable gas stove, which only runs about $17.00 at Ranch 99 Market. I'm sure people at the park think we're out of control with these gourmet picnics, but I know they envy the sights and smells around our picnic blanket!

Saltimbocca alla Romana

For dessert, I brought the remaining cannoli from the night before, and made a fresh Plum Tart with Italian plums I found at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market that morning. Italian plums, sometimes called Empress plums, are native to the Mediterranean coastal regions of Italy. They are yellow-fleshed delicacies with low-water content and dense texture, which allows them to keep their shape during baking. Their flavor falls between sweet and sour after cooking, making them ideal for fall cakes and crumbles. I served my tart with John's whipped cream, spiked with bourbon and nutmeg.

Combine the flour, walnuts, and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Add the butter and the egg yolk and mix until crumbly (alternatively, pulse together all ingredients in a food processor).

Press 1 1/2 cups of the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of a 9 1/2-inch springform or tart pan (you can also use a rectangular tart pan, as I did, or even mini-tart pans). Arrange the plums in the pan, skin-side down, to form a decorative pattern, beginning at the outside and working towards the center.

Sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture evenly over the plums (I had too much crumb mixture and used the excess to an additional mini-tart). Bake the tart for 40 to 50 minutes, or until it's lightly browned and the plum juices are bubbling (mine was done at about the 40-minute mark). Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer the tart to a flat plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, with or without whipped cream or ice cream.

Beautiful Italian Plums and the crumb mixture used for the bottom crust

Quartered plums are arranged in a decorative pattern on top of the crust

The remaining crumb mixture is then sprinkled over the top of the plums